Department of Justice's Antitrust Division launches big tech investigation
Without naming any names, the Department of Justice has announced today that its Antitrust Division is to launch an investigation into the practices of "market-leading online platforms".
The probe comes amid concerns that the big names in technology are "engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers". While the DoJ has not officially named any of the companies it is planning to look into as part of its investigation, the likes of Facebook, Google (or Alphabet) and Amazon are likely to feature prominently.
F-Secure's Data Discovery Portal reveals what the big tech companies know about you
In an age where people want -- even expect -- everything for free, particularly online, the price we pay for using various services is our privacy. Social networks are obvious collectors of personal data, but it doesn't end there... and who really knows what information has been collected about them over the years?
This is what F-Secure hopes to cast a light on with its new Data Discovery Portal which aims to "expose the true cost of using some of the web's most popular free services". It covers Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Twitter.
FTC to fine Facebook $5 billion for Cambridge Analytica privacy violations
The Federal Trade Commission has voted to hit Facebook with a $5 billion fine for privacy violations relating to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. While this is the largest fine ever handed out by the FTC, the impact on Facebook's coffers is going to be minimal; this is how much revenue the company generates in a month.
Although the fine has not been officially confirmed -- and neither the FTC nor Facebook are commenting on the matter -- a Friday vote on the fine is said to have gone 3-2 in favor of approving it. The size of the penalty has been described variously as a "parking ticket" and "barely a tap on the wrist". Democrat Senator Ron Wyden reacted by saying: "No level of corporate fine can replace the necessity to hold Mark Zuckerberg personally responsible for the flagrant, repeated violations of Americans' privacy".
Facebook will pay you to gather information from you
That Facebook gathers personal information from its users should come as no surprise -- it could be argued that it is the social network's raison d' être. Following numerous privacy scandals, and the controversial (and since-closed) Research and Onavo programs, Facebook is now ready to be open about its data collection, and is even willing to pay people for this.
The new "Study from Facebook" app gives Facebook users the chance to volunteer to share information about their app usage -- and get paid for divulging this information. Sound good to you?
Banned from social media? Feeling persecuted and censored? Report it to Donald Trump!
The White House has launched a new tool that enables people to report the fact that they have been kicked off the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The tool is aimed at people who have had their social media presence curtailed and "suspect political bias" is involved. Anyone who feels aggrieved is invited to "share your story with President Trump".
Four out of five people expect Facebook to have another data privacy issue this year
People are becoming more aware of the need to protect their data online, not just because of the rate of cybercriminal activity, but also because large organizations are frequently being careless with the data they hold.
A new survey of 1,000 people from OpenVPN reveals that four out of five people are expecting Facebook to face at least one more data privacy issue in the next year. In addition 71 percent say recent scandals have somewhat or severely negatively affected their view on Facebook, while 37 percent trust tech giants less now because they don’t think the companies have properly addressed the data privacy problems.
WhatsApp users urged to install app update to patch serious spyware vulnerability
Users of WhatsApp could be infected by dangerous spyware just by receiving a call. The spyware, which is thought to originate from Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO Group, can be installed just by calling a target -- there is no need for the call to be answered.
A security advisory on the Facebook website does not go into much detail about the exploit, which takes advantage of a buffer overflow vulnerability. WhatsApp says it was discovered earlier this month, and with 1.5 billion users, there are a huge number of people that are potentially affected.
New York attorney general to investigate Facebook for scraping 1.5 million users' email contacts
Following the revelation that Facebook "unintentionally" scraped and uploaded 1.5 million users' email contacts, the New York attorney general's office has announced that it is opening an investigation into the social media giant.
Attorney general Letitia James said that it is "time Facebook is held accountable for how it handles consumers' personal information".
Why every enterprise needs data loss prevention for all social media channels
Security leaders face tough decisions when it comes to using social media in the workplace. Social and other digital channels are fundamentally changing the way modern businesses communicate. They’re tied to critical operations ranging from customer support to marketing to internal collaboration. Avoiding them isn’t an option. At the same time, relying on the security and privacy settings of these platforms can leave your company open to a serious incident.
It doesn’t help that social media comes with an enormous attack surface. The sheer scale of message creation on these platforms makes it especially hard to prevent the leakage of private data, like personally identifiable information (PII) and other privileged information. Security teams need to stop relegating social media as a communications channel. It is essentially a public cloud environment, and needs to be protected as such.
How to delete the contacts that Facebook may have scraped from you
With its invasive advertising, scant regard for privacy, and often poor approach to security, Facebook has done little over the years to win itself many friends. But to help boost your list of friends, it is possible that Facebook may have uploaded your email contacts without your knowledge.
The aim of this was to help find people you might know on the social network, but as there was little warning about the uploading of such private and sensitive information, there was an understandable backlash. If you're concerned about what Facebook has uploaded on your behalf, here's how to delete the contacts that may have been scraped from you.
Facebook: er, actually it was millions of Instagram passwords we stored in plain text, not thousands
With no fanfare whatsoever, Facebook has revealed that it stored the passwords for millions of Instagram accounts in plain text.
The news came as the company quietly updated a blog post from last month in which it revealed that it had stored hundreds of millions of unencrypted Facebook passwords on its servers. At the time, the company said "tens of thousands" of Instagram users were affected. Revising this figure upwards, Facebook says: "We now estimate that this issue impacted millions of Instagram users".
Privacy: Facebook 'unintentionally' scraped and uploaded 1.5 million users' email contacts
It seems that barely a week passes without another Facebook scandal emerging, and this week is no different. The company has revealed that it accidentally uploaded the email contacts of up to 1.5 million users who signed up for the social network since 2016.
A glitch meant that new users who signed up for email password verification had their email contacts scraped and uploaded without consent. As of last month , Facebook stopped offering this verification option to first-time users, although it's not clear if this is because of the privacy issue.
UK recommends that Facebook and other social media sites disable 'like' option and data collection for minors
UK watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has put forward new proposals it believes will help to improve the safety of children online. Among the recommendations is the suggestion that Facebook and other social media sites should disable "like" functionality for minors.
The ICO's "Age Appropriate Design" consultation document is a code of practice for online services, and includes proposals such as minimum age checks and an increase in privacy settings for minors. Another suggestion in the 16-point set of proposals is that social media firms limit the collection of personal data about under-18s.
Forget Easter eggs, Facebook Messenger now officially has a dark mode
Following the popular trend, Facebook has now officially rolled out the much-requested dark mode option to Facebook Messenger on both iOS and Android.
The feature was available as a secret Easter egg from the start of last month, but now it is being rolled out on a global basis for everyone to enjoy. Dark mode can now be accessed as a regular setting without the need to jump through any special hoops.
Facebook suffers huge outage, along with WhatsApp and Instagram
If you've had trouble accessing Facebook today, you're not alone. Users in the US, Europe and Asia struggled to access not only Facebook, but also the WhatsApp and Instagram services owned by the social media giant.
Facebook has said little about this incident which comes just a month after it suffered its worst outage ever, causing problems for users for over 24 hours. This weekend's outage led to #FacebookDown, #instagramdown, and #whatsappdown hashtags trending on Twitter, and numerous reports of problems were posted to Downdetector.
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